Released last October Arc Raiders has swiftly become one of the most successful online shooters in the world, shifting 12m copies in barely three months and attracting as many players as established mega hits such as Counter-Strike 2 and Apex Legends. So what is it about this sci-fi blaster that’s captured so many people – and how can you get involved?

So what is Arc Raiders?

Created by Swedish developer Embark Studios, Arc Raiders is an extraction shooter: an online multiplayer game that drops you into a world with other people to search for valuable weapons and items before attempting to escape with all your spoils. You can play alone or with up to two friends in a squad. Most extraction shooters feature two types of gameplay: Player vs Environment (PvE), which means exploring the world and fighting computer controlled enemies, and Player vs Player (PvP), which means fighting any other players you come across on your travels and then stealing their stuff. In Arc Raiders, you don’t have to fight everyone you meet: in fact human raiders rarely attack each other, choosing to band together instead. The game gives you a few stock phrases to shout such as “don’t shoot!”, or you can plug in a mic, chat to strangers you meet and form alliances.

What’s the story?

Arc Raiders is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth in the distant future. The planet has suffered an ecological disaster that has wiped out most of the population and most technology. Now, a robotic alien invasion force named Arc has arrived to plunder all the remaining natural resources and kill off humanity, forcing everyone to flee underground, where a vast subterranean city named Toledo has been built. Now Earth is patrolled by a menagerie of deadly android guards.

What do you do?

You play as a raider making daring trips topside to scavenge ruined towns and facilities. As you go on more raids, your character earns experience points, which can be spent on improving their survival, looting and movement abilities, and finds blueprints that enable them to make more stuff. You can also carry out missions for traders, who will reward you with useful items. Traders also sell you things that you haven’t yet learned to craft yourself.

Why is it so popular?

There are a lot of extraction shooters out there, from dystopian survival thriller Escape from Tarkov to the southern gothic horror of Hunt: Showdown 1896. What Arc Raiders brings is an excellent sense of style, with interesting environments, excellent music and audio, compelling lore and engrossing set-piece battles with the giant robots. Some enemies, such as the vast mecha-spider-like Matriarch, are absolutely huge and require lots of players to join forces in ad-hoc battles. These thrilling encounters have been widely shared on Twitch, TikTok and Instagram – as have comic moments where players fall off buildings, or accidentally kill themselves with guided missiles. The enemies, from the drone-like Wasps and Hornets to the lumbering land-based Bombardiers, are powered by machine-learning and AI that make them fun and unpredictable foes.

How should I start?

Just jump in! Arc Raiders is available on PC, Xbox and PS5 and I’d recommend getting a gaming headset so you can chat to other players, if you haven’t got one. Also, listening to the world through headphones gives you a better understanding of where threats are coming from. Once you customise your character, you can start going on raids. In the beginning you can only access one map, the Dam Battlegrounds, but others such as the wrecked urban landscape of Buried City and the deadly industrial complex Stella Montis open up later. I’d advise sticking to the Dam until you have many hours of experience, as the other places are swarming with enemies and other players tend to be more aggressive. For your first few raids, just explore the map, get to grips with the different enemies and pop into buildings to search cabinets, lockers and desks for items.

Collect absolutely everything at first – useful resources such as wires and springs will let you craft items later, while rare goods such as toasters and radios can be sold or recycled for scrap. You’ll begin with a very basic weapon and accessories but as you go you’ll find new guns, grenades and medicines, which you can store in your room or sell. With the money you earn, you can buy items from traders. It’s important to become self-sufficient as soon as possible, so concentrate on upgrading your workstations (where you craft new items). Whenever you find a blueprint, which teaches you a new item to craft, put it in your inventory’s safe pocket – this lets you keep it even if you’re killed during a raid. Blueprints are more likely to be found in high value areas (marked on your map in red) or during daily special events such as night raids and electromagnetic storms – but these are more risky and competitive.

These player guides by Games Radar, IGN and Rock Paper Shotgun are extremely useful.

Any last tips?

Just jump in! … Arc Raiders. Photograph: Embark Studios

The game’s skill tree has three branches – Conditioning, Mobility and Survival. You won’t be able to unlock everything, so think about how you’re going to play. I’d prioritise Mobility skills that focus on stamina at first as you’re going to be doing a LOT of running away. After this, it depends on you: if you’re going to fight other players, prioritise Conditioning skills: if you just want to loot and get outta there, prioritise the more stealth-focused Survival options.

As soon as you can, arm yourself with two guns: one that’s effective against Arc enemies (the Ferro is great for this); and one that is useful against other players, such as the Kettle or Stitcher, which are effective against even the best guns in the game. You should also carry bandages, shield rechargers and adrenaline shots. Consider taking smoke grenades everywhere as they’ll help you escape both Arc robots and aggressive players. Even when you have the best weapons and armour, you can still be overpowered by basic flying enemies such as Wasps and Hornets, so buy a bunch of seeker grenades – they’re cheap and highly effective against these tenacious foes.

As soon as you have the money, increase the size of your stash – ie the number of items you’re allowed to store. Keep doing this until you max it out to 280 slots. You’re gonna need them.

If you need to make money fast, go to Dam and visit the Pale Apartments, Ruby Residence and Pattern House – they are filled with high-value trinkets such as statues, snow globes and pottery jugs, and are relatively safe to explore.

At the beginning of each run, after you choose which map area you want to visit, the game offers you the chance to start with a basic gun and some health items. It lets you get to grips with the area and do a bit of looting without the risk of losing valuable equipment. This is a brilliant option for when you’re exploring a new map for the first time, or if you just need to recoup your supplies after being killed on a previous run.

The game takes aggressive behaviour into account when matching you with other players. If you shoot people, you’re more likely to be put on servers where people shoot back. If that doesn’t sound like fun, be nice to other raiders. Use the emote wheel to greet them, and join up to fight larger enemies. You’ll learn faster and I’ve often been given items by players who I’ve helped out.